Irish Canadian Rugby Club 14 - Toronto Saracens 12
27 / 07 / 05
League

On Wed., July 27^th the Irish Women traveled to Sunnybrook Park for the last game of the regular season. Their opponents, the Toronto Saracens were also coming into this game with a good record of 3-0.

The scoring opened 12 minutes into the first half with a wide pass out to Karen Dillaine at Outside Centre just outside the Irish half. She ran around her cover and up the sideline then scored under the posts. Linsdsey Bradbury added the convert. About eight minutes later Inside Centre, Ashlee McIntyre looked like she was just on a crash run to suck in defence, but the defence failed to make a tackle so Ashlee found herself on a break down the middle of the pitch. No chase ensued and she scored the second try of the match directly under the posts.  Bradbury slotted her second convert of the match. With one minute left in the half, a substitution was made at the Fly-half position.  ONT U-19 Ont. player Tanya Thompson came off with an injury and was replaced by ONT U-17 Fly-half Kirstin Shedden.

The second half brought several chances to the Saracens side. Their quick-footed fullback capitalized on a missed kick to touch, running wide on a pinching defensive line but was was pursued by a fantastic chase from Kizil Reder. Some onlooker would have argued that it was a knock-on in goal, but that’s not what the ref saw. The conversion was missed, so the score was now 14-5. The Saracens put a lot of pressure on in the rucks and caused the Irish to commit a few penalties at those breakdowns. This allowed the Saracens to keep attacking deep into the Irish end. Their scrum half and flanker created a nice try that was made a little too easy by some missed or half tackles. This time the convert was good. 14-12 was the score with four minutes left. The Irish managed to hang on for the win.

“Maybe we needed a tough game before heading off into the playoffs. The girls need to know that winning doesn’t come easy, and it takes all 15 people out on the field, plus the subs, to get the job done,” commented a breathless Backs Coach, Karen Lozada, after the closely contested match.

“I’m glad we worked on our defense a lot this week, but you could tell that not everyone was at training and they weren’t all on the same page. If they could feel more comfortable communicating to one another on the pitch, we wouldn’t have the defensive breakdowns. Considering we have switched up some positions in the forwards this week, I’m pretty pleased with the success of the set piece,” stated a satisfied Forwards Coach, Mary Velpel, at the end of the game.

This Wed., Aug. 3^rd the Irish Junior Women face the Lions-Yeomen at Fletchers at 7:30 for the first round of the Playoffs.  Wish us luck as we head into the post-season!!!